Why JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette Were Married by Flashlight

John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette’s wedding—which took place on September 21, 1996, on Georgia’s Cumberland Island—has long been hailed one of the most iconic of all time. From the secrecy around the nuptials and Carolyn’s simple, understated bridal gown to that iconic ceremony exit photo, the admittedly few details we have about John and Carolyn’s wedding have been enough to captivate us all for nearly three decades. One fact about the big that’s less widely known? The couple’s officiant, Rev. Charles J. O’Byrne, had to perform the ceremony by flashlight.

Why would one of the most influential men—part of one of the most influential family’s in American history—need to resort to such bare-bones measures to tie the knot? Based on what we know about the big day, the fact that the couple was behind schedule and started their vow exchange much later than initially planned was largely to blame. Their wedding venue, Cumberland Island’s First African Baptist Church, was built in 1893 and featured just eight wooden pews and no electricity, USA Today reports. Still, the couple had to have known this fact when they chose it as the site of their celebration, so how did they end up tying the knot in the dark?

The groom was known to be late for everything, and though he didn’t arrive on time on his big day, it was actually an issue with the bride’s dress that put the entire celebration two hours behind schedule. USA Today reports that, because her silk crepe slip dress wouldn’t slip over her head as easily as everyone had thought, she had to have her hair and makeup redone. “She was late to the wedding, perhaps in her nervousness of getting everything perfect,” Sasha Chermayeff, a wedding guest and one of John’s best friends, said in her book CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion. “I always thought that it made everything perfect in a way because the evening sun was setting, and then, the wedding was candlelit. It was beautiful.”

In that same book, the author notes that the dress actually needed to be altered before the ceremony began, so whether it was because of a fit issue or a hair and makeup snafu, something related to the bride’s look forced the ceremony start time back a full two hours. To deal with the setting sun, John asked that the chapel be filled with as many candles as possible. “It was so John (to say) we will ‘light candles instead of cursing the darkness,'” Billy Noonan, a friend of the couple, told TLC as part of their 2019 two-hour special “JFK Jr and Carolyn’s Wedding: The Lost Tapes.”

Though the candlelight made for a beautiful setting, it still posed a challenge for Rev. O’Byrne, who had a religious ceremony to deliver. David R. Davis, the gospel singer who performed “Amazing Grace” as Carolyn walked down the aisle, stayed in his spot at the front of the chapel during the ceremony and held a flashlight to illuminate the officiant’s script.

Whether you attribute the flashlight-lit ceremony to the bride’s wedding dress drama or the venue without power, there’s no question that John and Carolyn’s nuptials were all the more intimate and romantic due to the setting sun.